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Dominican baseball player Wander Franco fails to appear at prosecutor’s office amid investigation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco failed to show up Thursday for a meeting with a prosecutor who is investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor.Prosecutor Olga Diná Llaverías said the investigation will continue regardless of Franco’s no-show. She waited for the All-Star player and his lawyers at her office, but they didn’t appear.Dominican prosecutors and police showed up on Tuesday at a Franco property in Baní, his hometown about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Santo Domingo. They did not find the 22-year-old player to request he appear for testimony.The Dominican Republic’s prosecutors’ office said on Aug. 14 that Franco was under investigation because of postings on his social media channels suggesting he had a relationship with a minor. The Associated Press has not been able to verify the reported posts.Franco’s no-show could be because his current lawyers may not have bee...

World population grew by 75 million in past year and will be more than 8 billion people on Jan. 1

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

The world population grew by 75 million people over the past year and on New Year’s Day it will stand at more than 8 billion people, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.The worldwide growth rate in the past year was just under 1%. At the start of 2024, 4.3 births and two deaths are expected worldwide every second, according to the Census Bureau figures.The growth rate for the United States in the past year was 0.53%, about half the worldwide figure. The U.S. added 1.7 million people and will have a population on New Year’s Day of 335.8 million people. If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in U.S. history, yielding a growth rate of less than 4% over the 10-year-period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.The slowest-growing decade currently was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the growth rate was 7.3%.“...

CP NewsAlert: Tentative deal on salaries with 420,000 Quebec public sector workers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

MONTREAL — An alliance of Quebec unions representing 420,000 public sector workers says it has reached a deal on salaries with the provincial government.The deal, which has to be approved by members, paves the way to ending the labour conflict with the province’s largest union group, called the common front.More coming.The Canadian Press

Huge surf pounds beaches on West Coast and in Hawaii with some low-lying coastal areas flooding

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Powerful surf rolled onto beaches on the West Coast and Hawaii on Thursday as a big swell generated by the stormy Pacific Ocean pushed toward shorelines, causing localized flooding.Forecasters urged people to stay off rocks and jetties, and to not turn their backs to the ocean because of the danger of “sneaker waves” — occasional much bigger waves that can run far up the sand and wash someone off a beach.A high surf warning for parts of Northern California said waves would range from 28 to 33 feet (8.5 to 10 meters) and up to 40 feet (12 meters) at some locations, the National Weather Service said, adding that there were reports of flooding in low-lying coastal areas.In Aptos on the north end of Monterey Bay, surf overran the beach and swept into a parking lot, leaving the area strewn with debris. Santa Cruz County issued warnings for people in several coastal areas to be ready to evacuate.“Mother Nature’s angry,” said Eve Krammer, an Aptos resident for several ye...

Man arrested in Richmond Hill alleged axe attack

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

York police have arrested for a man wanted in connection with an attack involving an axe among other incidents. Authorities said at approximately 7 p.m. on Dec. 13, the male suspect was at a residence on Highland Park Boulevard, where he became involved in an altercation with another man.Armed with an axe, the suspect then allegedly assaulted the victim, who was able to fend him off and call 911. It’s unclear how serious the victim’s injuries were.The suspect was also wanted in connection to a robbery that occurred at a Richmond Hill commercial business in which a hammer was allegedly used on Nov. 23.They were able to identify the suspect as Alexander Gordon Dykes, 59, of no fixed address, but he remained outstanding.On Dec. 26, after receiving a call from a citizen who had spotted the suspect in the area of Major Mackenzie Drive and Old Markham Road, police were able to locate and arrest Dykes. He is facing several charges, including assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and ro...

Alleged thief arrested with 34 winter coats on SkyTrain in Vancouver

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

VANCOUVER — Police say a 35-year-old man has been arrested after being found riding the SkyTrain in Vancouver on Christmas Day with a rack of 34 allegedly stolen winter coats. A video posted on social media shows Metro Vancouver Transit Police removing the rolling rack of coats from a carriage and escorting a man off the train at Waterfront Station. Const. Amanda Steed, media relations officer with the Transit Police, says an attendant at Joyce-Collingwood Station first alerted police about the passenger around 5 p.m. Steed says the investigation is now in the hands of Burnaby RCMP, who believe the coats were stolen from a business in Metrotown mall on Monday afternoon.She says the 34 coats on the rack were worth an estimated $6,100 and the man believed to have stolen them is known to police. Steed says although the TikTok video of the incident was set to Christmas music and likely meant to be lighthearted, the alleged theft was “unfortunately” tied to a deeper and ̶...

Man wanted in suspected hate-motivated graffiti incident

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

Toronto police are looking for a suspect in connection with a hate-motivated graffiti that was found on at a retail business in Etobicoke.Police were called to a retail business in The West Mall/The Queensway area on Dec. 21 at around 7:10 p.m.It’s alleged a man wrote hate-motivated graffiti on the windows of several stores than fled the area.The suspect is described as having a medium build, wearing a black hooded puffer jacket, black jeans, white shoes, black/orange gloves, and ski goggles.Images of the suspect have been released.The Hate Crime Unit is investigating.

Workers in New England states looking forward to a bump up in minimum wages in 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Workers in several New England states are looking forward to a bump up in the minimum wage in 2024 while advocates in Massachusetts are pushing a ballot question aimed at phasing out the state’s subminimum wage of $6.75 per hour for tipped workers.In Rhode Island, the state’s current $13 minimum wage will jump by $1 to $14 an hour on Jan. 1. It is the next step in a phased-in increase that will reach $15 in 2025.In Vermont, the state’s minimum wage will reach $13.67 — climbing $0.49 from the current $13.18 wage. The annual adjustment also affects the minimum wage for tipped workers, which will tick up from $6.59 to $6.84 per hour. Maine will see its hourly minimum wage tick up from $13.80 to $14.15 per hour. Maine requires annual adjustments to the minimum wage based on the cost-of-living. Portland is pushing its city minimum wage from $14 to $15. The state’s new tipped wage in 2024 will be $7.08 per hour.The minimum wage in Connecticut will rise from...

Canaccord sanctioned over trading supervision, fined $475,000

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

VANCOUVER — The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization says it has accepted a settlement with sanctions against Canaccord Genuity Corp. related to trading supervision.The regulator says the Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. subsidiary admitted that from January 2017 to March 2021 it failed to comply with its risk management and controls obligations as they related to market access by some of its direct electronic access clients.It says that as part of the agreement, Canaccord has agreed to a fine of $475,000 and to pay costs of $25,000.The settlement agreement says the compliance failure was related to two clients who carried out over 10,000 trades which apparently involved no change in the economic ownership. Known as “wash trades,” such buying and selling of a security with no real change of beneficial ownership can be used to mislead investors about the trading volume and interest in a security.Canaccord says it co-operated fully in the investigation that is pleased t...

Jan. 6 rioter who was sentenced in secret provided information to authorities, court papers say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:36 GMT

A Pennsylvania man who was sentenced in secret for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot cooperated with authorities investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and an unrelated case, according to court documents unsealed this week. The documents provide insight into the unusual secrecy in the case of Samuel Lazar, who had been released from federal custody in September after completing his sentence in his Capitol riot case. His case remained under seal even after his release, so there was no public record of a conviction or sentence.The records unsealed this week show that Lazar, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, admitted to spraying a chemical irritant at police officers who were trying to defend the Capitol and to using a bullhorn to encourage other rioters to take officers’ weapons as he yelled, “Let’s get their guns!” He pleaded guilty to assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 30 months in prison during a sealed hearing last March.More than 1,200 people ha...